Exam 6: Formation of the Solar System

A) 0) 4 percent
B) 0 percent
C) 80 percent
D) 20 percent
E) 2 percent

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A) The interstellar cloud from which the solar nebula formed was originally somewhat flat.
B) It flattened as a natural consequence of collisions between particles in the nebula, changing random motions into more orderly ones.
C) The force of gravity pulled the material downward into a flat disk.
D) As the nebula cooled, the gas and dust settled onto a disk.

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A) They evolved from hydrogen and helium shortly after the Big Bang.
B) They were produced inside dense interstellar gas.
C) They were produced in the Big Bang.
D) They were produced inside stars.
E) All of the above

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A) Its surface is heavily cratered.
B) Mercury has essentially no atmosphere.
C) It has been studied closely by several NASA spacecraft.
D) At any given time, about half the planet is colder than Antarctica.

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A) Jupiter would now be farther from the Sun.
B) The Moon would not exist.
C) Terrestrial planes could only have formed closer to the Sun.
D) Mars would be a gas giant.
E) No comets could have formed.

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The solar nebula theory is a widely acce...

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A) It marks the special distance from the Sun at which hydrogen compounds become abundant; closer to the Sun, there are no hydrogen compounds.
B) It is a circle at a particular distance from the Sun, beyond which the temperature was low enough for ices to condense.
C) It is another way of stating the temperature at which water freezes into ice.
D) It is the altitude in a planet's atmosphere at which snow can form.

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A) hydrogen compounds (H2O, CH4, NH3) , rocks, metals, light gases (H, He)
B) hydrogen compounds (H2O, CH4, NH3) , light gases (H, He) , rocks, metals
C) light gases (H, He) , hydrogen compounds (H2O, CH4, NH3) , rocks, metals
D) light gases (H, He) , hydrogen compounds (H2O, CH4, NH3) , metals, rocks
E) hydrogen compounds (H2O, CH4, NH3) , light gases (H, He) , metals, rocks

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A) surface dramatically altered during bombardment
B) caused icy planetesimals to slingshot away from the Sun, to become Oort cloud comets
C) formed in regions cold enough for water to freeze
D) accreted from icy planetesimals
E) formed in a region with lower orbital speeds

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Pluto is predominantly composed of ice a...

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A) Terrestrial planets orbit much closer to the Sun than jovian planets.
B) Terrestrial planets contain large quantities of ice, and jovian planets do not.
C) Jovian planets have rings, and terrestrial planets do not.
D) Terrestrial planets are higher in average density than jovian planets.

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A) Both types of planet begun with planetesimals growing through the process of accretion, but only the jovian planets were able to capture hydrogen and helium gas from the solar nebula.
B) The terrestrial planets formed inside the frost line of the solar nebula and the jovian planets formed beyond it.
C) The jovian planets began from planetesimals made only of ice, while the terrestrial planets began from planetesimals made only of rock and metal.
D) Swirling disks of gas, like the solar nebula in miniature, formed around the growing jovian planets but not around the growing terrestrial planets.

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A) The original solar nebula happened to be disk- shaped by chance.
B) The laws of conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum ensure that any rotating, collapsing cloud will end up as a spinning disk.
C) The Sun formed first, and as it grew in size it spread into a disk, rather like the way a ball of dough can be flattened into a pizza by spinning it.
D) Any planets that once orbited in the opposite direction or a different plane were ejected from the solar system.
E) Luck explains it, as we would expect that most other solar systems would not have all their planets orbiting in such a pattern.

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A) The water was brought to the forming Earth by planetesimals that accreted beyond the orbit of Mars.
B) Earth formed at a distance from the Sun at which liquid water happened to be plentiful in the solar nebula.
C) The water was formed by chemical reactions among the minerals in the Earth's core.
D) The water was brought to the forming Earth by planetesimals that accreted near Earth's orbit.

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A) A star's 5 terrestrial planets orbit in the opposite direction of its 3 jovian planets.
B) Of the star's five terrestrial planets, one has a large moon.
C) Two of the star's planets are rotating in directions backwards compared to their orbital direction.
D) A star has zero planets.
E) A star has 20 planets.

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A) carbon dioxide
B) methane
C) ammonia
D) water

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